construction, tesla's 1st european factory delivers its 1st cars today. the berlin brandenburg giga factory could soon be building half a 1000000 cars per year. tesla is also building a battery factory nearby. berlin is a tesla's 4th car factory. it's 1st plan in california went into operation and california in 2010. it also opened a factory in 2016, and the nevada desert then came, it's a shanghai plant and 2019 berlin brandenburg factory opening today. here in 2020 to up next new giga factory will be opening in austin, texas. hopefully soon. now we'll talk to our correspondent who is there at the berlin, brandon or brandenburg factory in a moment. but 1st, let's take a look at this project. this was a forest to just 2 years ago, but it was cleared to make way for a massive construction site. europe's largest factory for electric cars was built

on 3 square kilometers of land, just outside berlin. tesla invested billions of euro's into the project. construction husband, quick by german standards, but with some hitches, the factory was built at the company's own risk without waiting for a final building permit environmental protests force tesla to change plans. a dispute remains about the factories, water supplies. all of these were a source of frustration for tesla. i think that could be a proceed. that would be better. construction was supposed to be completed in summer 2021. but it took until march this year for that final building permit to arrive, spread out over $23000.00 documents. to get a notice of approval for this project has been handed over to tesla today. so you like even val. now it can get started, $500000.00 cars can be built here per year with $12000.00 employees. once

everything is fully operational, the factory could help europe take a significant step away from petroleum and throws down the gauntlet to other car makers to go electric. due to view steven beardsley is at the factory gates, he joins me now. stephen tesla, the biggest name and electric vehicles by germany also has a lot of more traditional carmakers, like volkswagen that are getting very serious about electron mobility. what will this factory mean for competition? what chelsea tesla built this factory here, this massive production hall you see behind me for the same reason that volkswagen or audi or b m w builds in markets where it's selling. that's for example in the u. s. or in china, it's basically a better investment of their capital to serve those markets. now, the model wise that are going to be built here, we're coming from places like shanghai from

a car factory in california. now that can be built here that could be sold in this market. that's a massive cost reduction for tessa. it allows them to be here in europe where they see a growing growing market. now you mentioned some of the competitors volkswagen, audi. they are really kicking up their efforts with ease volkswagen, almost doubling it. sales in one quarter alone of e v's last year. it's on 80 percent increase over the whole year. so it's coming on fast. but right now, tesla is the world leader and in things like software and things like production methods in managerial style, it is sort of more the modern car maker it's, it's seen that way by lot of a lot of experts, including some of the leaders in the car industry, including hebert, diesel, leads volkswagen. he's made it very clear that his plan is to try and take over tesla in the coming years. but that's still going to take a while. tesla right now is the world leader. and with this hall that is opening right now, this is another big step forward for the producer. the steven tesla didn't want to openness fact here earlier, as early as last summer. but as we heard in the report,

they've faced a lot of bureaucrats see how big of an issue is that for companies, you know, building factories here in germany will for tesla. it's it is, this factory comes about 6 months later than they had hoped for that hope that october as a realistic day for to open. now originally, as you mentioned september, i'm sorry, summer was what was being i'd. but then tesla came back and said that they want to build a battery production facility as well. and that length in this process for receiving approval. now it only took 2 and a half years to build this, i say, only because in germany that's actually a very good timeline. and a lot of officials and a lot of politicians are looking at tesla this approval process as perhaps the way to move forward to trying to speed up some major projects. as you mentioned that they're eyeing in the future. you know, you look at right now with energy concerns with a need to build ellen g terminals with a need to build renewable energy. the approval process is considerably long here in germany. they want to see a sped up in tesla might be something like

a blueprint for that. for stephen, this factory also faced a lot of resistance, particularly from environmental groups in the community around the factory. and now satisfied i think depends which community we're talking about. when you look at brandenburg in general, this is a region outside of berlin. it's very thinly populated. it hasn't had as many industrial um, herb plants here, industrial employers here that might offer jobs like in other parts of germany. so this is very much welcome from a job perspective. the local community has been a little upset about water issues here that will continue to be a problem at this facility is going to need the water of about a $40000.00 a population city um per year. so that is something that is going to take a massive resource from this area. it's probably going to require more wells to be dug for residents of this area. but the officials here say that the water is there and that it's not a problem. so that has been an issue that we're also some concerns about raising

this area for the factory. but for the most part that's been put to the side. and many of the questions happen, answered steven grantley, thanks so much. now tesla is just one example of the big foreign companies who flocked to europe biggest economy in recent years. take a look at some of the others. this battery factory opened its doors in 2021 in columbia, in northern sweden. it is the 1st of its kind to be built by a european company. the swedish company, north volt may only have been in business as 2016, but plans to build a battery factory in northern germany. thanks to the regions, eco friendly, power production. and the company can expect substantial government help. germany needs new batteries to power its pivot towards green energy. they're also big plans from up to board and eastern germany. u. s. chip manufacturer. intel wants to spend 17000000000 euros in the region to open to new factories. that would employ 3000

people. and it's banking on european union subsidies to the tune of several 1000000000 euros. construction is due to start next year. both announcements are likely to give germany's economy a major boost in the last several years, the amount of direct investment in germany has been continually increasing, raising some 10 percent over the last 5 years. with a majority of it coming from the united states, car maker ford has been working in germany since 1926. now it's shifting its production to electric cars and spending $2000000000.00 to do it. at this factory near cologne to new models will hit the roads starting in 2024. i am joined now by robert hammond from germany, trade and invest,

which is the government's economic promotion agency. robert, thanks so much for being here. so germany has been criticized for a long time for being too slow to bureaucratic, to attract, you know, foreign investment. is that narrative starting to change? of course, i think of course, i think you have seen that through the settlement of the decision to locate an action plan and brandenburg can just do that by investment decisions off of the just mentioned and multiple. so there is a real time for us, unity for companies to settle, manufacture activities in germany. you mentioned has flat. we're talking watch day about has lessons that is the grand and opening of that factory outside of berlin. you know, you must, has been quite critical of german bureaucracy. they wanted to open that factory about it a year ago, almost does a very public example like that of sort of administrative,

bureaucratic delays and scare other companies away from germany. i think it might even be a drop of it. so i think that's a proven that you can ask for processes done in 2 years for such a huge investment. that's upstanding for even a year. it's been a good time for the administration and reliable administration in germany, and i think has mentioned that in his interest mentioned that in his speech last tuesday that he very much appreciate the relying rival administration processes and administration in germany. so, tesla as well as a c, a t l 3 manufacturer that has a look at the manufacturing plant to also to 3 years ago shows that the administration processes are competitive. so you mentioned until they're another

big win for germany as an investment location. the german government reportedly is giving and tell around 5000000000 euros in subsidies. why should taxpayer money be given to these big corporations to attract them here? the benefit that you, that the german economy is getting and even the european economy getting out of those projects. very large projects. it's much higher than the amount of incentives and subsidies paid by the government. if you see the whole infrastructure, the ecosystem that is expected around passion, a huge investment with thousands of jobs and publish that they will create another $10000.00 jobs indirect to their investment activities. so the benefits coming out of zone projects is much higher than the amount of paid for starting function

activity. and you have to also consider subsidies are part of investing internationally. so the amount that is paid in, in europe, in germany this time is not that high as it would be in, for example, korea, taiwan, china, united states. so i think it's that is part of attracting that as part of developing sustainable future technologies in regions and seeing as part of the commitment of the governments to support developments. just briefly, if you can, in a quick key strategy for the new german government also for the you is making us less dependent on technology from the u. s. or asia. what needs to be done to achieve that? i think of the frame work and i just mentioned the incentive scheme, the clear focus on industry sectors is very important in european commission is

focusing on certain aspects. the general government is focusing on industry topics . so a clear focus is helpful. the german government decided on developing a sustainable energy supply, for example, of the korea focus is running and then i think we're going to have to leave it there are out of time. thank you so much for joining us. thanks for watching. ah, ah, ah, with ah,

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